APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The History Museum at the Castle along College Avenue in Appleton is back open to the public. But the museum has adopted new protocols to protect the health of staff and visitors.
“We’re looking at advice that the CDC is giving and anything that we can see from local health officials…We’re following what we understand are the best practices to protect our staff’s health and the public’s health,” says Executive Director Matt Carpenter, “Still a fairly full experience at the museum but it won’t have some of the things that people would tend to touch as they go through…We are requiring masks. We’re encouraging people to do frequent hand washing between floors. We’ve also removed some of our hands-on interactives.”
The hours will be limited at the outset of their initial reopening phase. That means the museum will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Sunday. The other four days of the week will be reserved for pre-scheduled tours.
“The phases will affect the number of people we’ll allow in the building at a time, and also affect the kind of programming that we’re offering,” Carpenter tells WTAQ News, “We won’t be having large gatherings of people in our big programming space until we’re assured that the COVID-19 virus is not a threat.”
The museum is working through three stages that generally refer back to the suggestions offered in the Badger Bounce Back plan. And they’re not the only ones implementing the adjustments.
“There are six museums in the Fox Cities and we’ve all come together in a coalition meeting, and we all compared notes and I think we agree that this is the best way forward,” Carpenter says, “We hope to see people here when they’re comfortable coming. We think we can make it work if we all just go at it cautiously.”
Admission is $10 for adults and $7.50 for children. For more information, current offerings, and COVID-19 related updates, visit the History Museum’s website.
